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2015 Arboleda Chardonnay Aconcagua Costa

SKU #126818195 points
Decanter

Elegant nose, understated, with spicy notes of clove, cinnamon and fresh toast. Then the wine emerges in the glass, layered, vigorous, with harmonious flinty, salty, citrusy and almondy character. It is profound, savoury-sweet in that way really good Chardonnay can be. An impressive wine with a tremendous energy.
(7/2016)

93 points
James Suckling

A Chardonnay that shows sliced apple and pear aromas with hints of stone and mineral. Medium to full body, lively and very intense with bright acidity and lemon rind.
(5/2016)

K&L Notes

Founded in 1999 by Eduardo Chadwick, Arboleda's focus is not only on producing great wine, but also preserving the biodiversity of their beautiful property. The Aconcagua Costa area, just north of Chile's Casablanca Valley, has seen a real rise in interest amongst growers, producers and others in the trade in Chile, for good reason. Here, there is a cool coastal influence, a diverse array of slate and granite soils, and seemingly limitless potential for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Product Reviews:

$16, really? It's hard to believe Chardonnay this well made can sell at such a fantastic price. This bottle trumps so many of my preconceptions. There's a lot of fruit going on here, but not the tropical flavors I was expecting — rather there's plenty of green apple, lime, and white peach. What comes across the most is a beautiful slate character — it's the minerality that really sets this bottle apart from other Chilean Chardonnays in the range. There is some body and richness from the malolactic fermentation, but it's wonderfully balanced against the fruit and acidity. I'm duly impressed.

This is a spectacular find for a lighter, fresher style of Chardonnay, made in stainless steel. A lively little wine, this exhibits fresh floral and orchard fruit aromas, with elegant lighter body and exuberant tropical fruit notes on the palate. A good cut from the acidity balances out the fruit nicely.

With a perfect blend of temperate days and cool nights, Chile's coastal valleys have seen tremendous expansion over the last decade, and Chardonnay, planted on slate, schist and granitic soils, produces fragrantly rich wines with real fruit presence and delightful balance. Ten months in older French oak contributes subtle spice and vanilla to enhance the pear, floral and citrus elements. Framed by fresh acidity, this is an elegant, thoroughly delicious Chardonnay to pair well with herb-roasted chicken!

An amazing value, the 2015 Arboleda Chardonnay is hard to beat. Loaded with citrus fruit along with pear and apple notes this finesse-driven white has good acidity, excellent balance and great complexity. Everything here is in perfect harmony as the wine unfolds to a smooth, harmonious finish. An ideal food wine this should become your new everyday wine.

There is really great value in this very complete little Chardonnay. I wasn't familiar with the producer or region when our South American buyer Joe showed me this wine but I was immediately impressed by its balance of richness and restraint and good persistence on the palate. The flavors are in the orchard fruit spectrum with nice cashew like lees personality. Lots of class and length at a bargain price.

A Big Winner and a great value once again shows up from Chile. Fantastic fresh and crunchy apple and pear fruit dominates with a medium amount of oak very well integrated. There is a lot going on here despite the reasonable price, great acidity and a mineral component work very well with the fresh fruit. Just delicious!

This is an incredibly tasty expression of Chardonnay, with a flinty nose of citrus leading to a lean, mineral driven palate with high toned fruits and white flowers. While a majority of the wine undergoes malolactic and is aged in barrel for 10 months, I find the oak to be well integrated and balanced, no doubt due to the quality of the coastal fruit, low pH and vibrant acidity of the wine. In a year chock full of delicious surprises form Chile, here is yet another one!

Additional Information:

Varietal:

Chardonnay

- It's hard to believe that up until about 30 years ago, this extremely popular varietal hid behind the veil of geographical names like Chablis and Puligny-Montrachet. Now grown all over the world and bottled by its varietal name, Chardonnay has achieved a level of branding unlike any other wine. Surprisingly, though, what you get when you buy Chardonnay can differ greatly from country to country and even within one country, depending on the climate where it's grown and how it is vinified and aged. From fresh, crisp and minerally with apple and lemon notes to rich and buttery with tropical fruit overtones, Chardonnay runs the gamut.
In France's Burgundy, Chardonnay is the source of the prized wines of Chablis, Corton-Charlemagne, Mâcon, Meursault and Montrachet. It also the foundation of exceptional Champagne, where it is blended with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier or vinified on its own into Blanc de Blancs. It is also extremely popular in California, and is gaining popularity in Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain and South Africa.

Country:

Chile

- Located on the western coast of South America and bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes to the East, the Chilean wine-growing climate is similar to that of California's Napa Valley and Bordeaux. The Chilean wine industry is known for being consistently free of phylloxera, but political and economic unrest has brought its own source of disorder. The recent establishment of a free market has resuscitated the wine industry, and significant investments have been made, switching the economic focus from domestic production to exports. Chile produces roughly a quarter of the wine Argentina produces, and is known for single-varietal exports, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay. It's a popular region in the U.S. known for inexpensive and tasty wine. Click for a list of bestselling items from Chile.